Restarting life in Siheyuan

A Y-5 arrived at the military airport in the southern suburbs at dawn. A snowfall a few days ago had covered the capital in a blanket of white. In the cold north wind, several cars were already waiting anxiously, with people stamping their feet from time to time. Finally, they saw the plane land safely.

"Old Kong, you're lucky this time. If it happens again, I'll let you explain it to your boss yourself."

Leader Hao came in person and rubbed his hands. Today is the 30th and the whole city is full of joy, but he is suffering. He was quite excited yesterday when he learned that the mission was successfully completed, but when he heard that it was Zhu Xuefeng who was sent out, he immediately became furious. This was the person who registered before the leader, and he had repeatedly instructed not to let him join his team. If something happened to this old Kong, it would be unimaginable. Fortunately, he is back.

"Xiao Huang, it's okay. I'm sorry for being wronged."

Lao Kong was also in the wrong, but there was nothing he could do. When he saw Xiao Huang getting off the plane with an urn in his hands, he quickly got rid of Leader Hao and went to meet him.

"Leader, it's my fault. I brought the captain back."

Xiao Huang's face was covered with tears and he was sobbing. The cold wind froze his little face. When Zhu Xuefeng took out Jiao Xueming's ashes, he cried for a long time.

"Okay, okay, I'm glad you're back. Where's Comrade Zhu Xuefeng?"

"He's in the back, with three traitors."

Xiao Huang didn't know where the three traitors were being held. When he boarded the boat back home, he found the three unconscious traitors, unconscious and tied up like dumplings.

Behind them came the four heroes who had escaped from the sea of ​​suffering. As expected, they were wrapped in military coats and quickly taken away. Also taken away were the ashes of the nine sacrificed soldiers. These ashes were found by Zhu Xuefeng. On the other side of the strait, all these sacrifices were cremated and officially stored. This should be because they were of the same origin. It’s just that no one was taking care of them, so they were easy to find.

When Zhu Xuefeng and the escort soldiers escorted three masked men off the plane, Leader Hao smiled and waved his hand. Several men quickly took over the escort mission and opened the hoods for confirmation.

"Leader, it's these three!"

"Take him away. This kid has done something extraordinary this time. Damn, he has also caused trouble. I don't know how to explain this to the higher-ups."

As he said this, he glared at Lao Kong again. It was really a headache. This time there was no way to hide Zhu Xuefeng's deeds from his superiors. Although he had exceeded the task target, he would still be reprimanded.

Lao Kong ignored him and was busy putting a military coat on Zhu Xuefeng. Before he had time to ask, he heard Leader Hao behind him reminding him in a low voice.

"You have to go too!"

Uncle Kong turned back in distress, "Leader, you just said next time. Besides, according to the rules, this kind of thing should be reported to the top leader. If I follow, I will just be waiting outside for the call."

"Stop talking nonsense and listen to what Xiao Zhu has to say. You actually brought him back alive this time. Maybe the leader will be so happy that he will have to criticize you."

Leader Hao thought a lot at once, and obviously had an idea, and even started a joke.

"Then I won't go either. You are the primary person in charge. We only act according to your orders and you are the one who reports."

Lao Kong was also afraid of facing the leader. After the last mission failed, he met the leader as the on-site person in charge after returning. Unexpectedly, not only was he not criticized, but he was also encouraged. He said that the leader knew the grievances of him and his comrades, but this time he clearly went against the leader's opinions, and he would not dare to face it even if he had the courage.

Leader Hao didn't waste any time and pulled Lao Kong into the car. He had to go back to listen to Xiao Zhu and Xiao Huang's reports first.

There were no flight missions at the airport. After leaving the airport, the newly formed snow on the road had not been cleared yet. Some people were working busily with simple tools. When they saw the convoy, they happily moved to the side of the road. The convoy went east along the wall of XX Machinery Factory, then turned north. Zhu Xuefeng looked through the car window at the gate that was frequently entered and exited by later generations and was heavily guarded.

"Auspicious snow means a good harvest. It's snowing well. It's been snowing for three days. This year's harvest should be good."

The driver, Lao Huang, was lamenting that there has been little rain for several years in a row and life has been difficult. It was a little better last year, but it has not fundamentally improved.

Zhu Xuefeng could only smile bitterly. It was now February, and in a few months this place would be covered in an ocean. Who could have imagined that the years in the 1960s were truly difficult.

Lao Kong and Leader Hao were sitting in the car in front, discussing something.

"Old Kong, you said, tomorrow is the first day of the new year, and the leader must have a lot of reports on hand. Is it appropriate to report this matter today?"

"I don't care whether it's appropriate or not. That's the first person responsible. I've completed my mission. Now it's your turn to worry."

"You can be proud first. I have decided that this is a big deal. We must figure it out today and report the details as soon as possible. You have to accompany me."

"Old Hao, tell me, can you fully understand such a big thing in such a short time? Besides, tonight is New Year's Eve. The boss has been busy all year and finally squeezed out some time to spend New Year's Eve with my sister. Do you have to mess with it?"

Lao Kong still didn't dare to go see the leader. "If it were you, I would report the result first, and then report the details tomorrow."

Leader Hao put out his cigarette, opened the window to ventilate the air, and let the cold wind blow into the car. The not-so-warm compartment suddenly became extremely cold.

"Your retaliation is too obvious. First you smoke him, then you blow the north wind. Old Hao, you are wearing a military coat, but the driver Xiao Lu is not. Close it quickly."

"Old Kong, what you said makes sense. How about we ask clearly today and report the details early tomorrow morning? This is a big deal. The leader has made a request that big deals must be reported immediately."

...

"It's that simple?"

Zhu Xuefeng answered lightly, as if he was just taking a walk in the park, how he knocked out three people and stuffed them into wooden boxes, and how he rescued five people and stuffed them into wooden boxes, and with the help of the ship captain, he passed the inspection, and then found the snakehead in Hong Kong and sent him back.

"It's that simple. It took more than ten days to gather intelligence and make preparations, but it only took one night to take action."

"Who was the female comrade who covered your retreat? Why didn't she come back with you?"

Zhu Xuefeng had already thought of an excuse. "She is my junior sister from the same school. They are now settled in Hong Kong and are particularly good at destroying mechanisms. I asked her to help open the shackles, but luckily, she found the key. In the end, she took the initiative to cover me. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to retreat."

"She is so skilled, is it possible for her to join us?" Leader Hao suddenly became interested. Xiao Huang also confirmed that this female comrade took the initiative to cover us and actually managed to escape. Her skills were quite amazing.

"Leader, it's impossible. I asked her about her wishes and she had some ideas, but she would not pass the political review, so I gave up."

There were no conditions for the political review, so Leader Hao had to give up, feeling a little regretful.

"What a shame. Well, you have done a great job this time. Today is Chinese New Year, so you can go home and celebrate first. Send the report to me tomorrow and we will discuss how to report it to the leader."

"Uncle Kong, don't forget what you promised."

Zhu Xuefeng turned around to remind him, and Uncle Kong looked a little unhappy. How could he bring up the agreement they had made?

"Got it, go find your mom. It just so happens that your eldest brother and third brother are back. You haven't met your third brother yet, right?"

Lao Kong was thinking about the task report for a moment, and casually said something, wanting to get Zhu Xuefeng away quickly. Leader Hao looked at Lao Kong meaningfully and called Zhu Xuefeng to stop.

"By the way, you don't have to hand in the sniper rifle and bullets. I wanted to give them to you last time, but you refused to give them up. Take them back this time. If it weren't for you, this mission wouldn't have been so successful. You actually brought back four of them."

"Those four are real heroes. They were tortured badly, but they are still strong. That's why I risked my life to save them. They did nothing wrong. Please don't..."

When Zhu Xuefeng heard about the four people, he didn't care about the sniper rifle and hurried to explain to them.

"Got it. This is not our business. The person has been taken away. There are formal procedures. Go back and rest."

Watching Zhu Xuefeng leave the yard, Leader Hao looked at Lao Kong with a sly smile on his face.

"Tell me, Comrade Lao Kong, this is not a bad thing, why haven't you said anything yet?"

Lao Kong let the cat out of the bag for a moment, but he was not panicked at all. "You didn't read the file carefully, I added it last time. He recognized my wife as his godmother. This is not something shameful, haha." "Good Lao Kong, you have a lot of tricks. Tell me, is there anything else you haven't confessed to the organization."

"What could possibly happen? You have to help keep this kid's affairs a secret. Lao Wang has warned me about this several times..."

When Lao Wang was mentioned, Leader Hao stopped talking, threw a cigarette, and the two of them lit it. They stood at the window together, looking in the direction where Zhu Xuefeng disappeared.

"I was the one who let down your old Wang and caused you to lose your only son. Every time I see her in the yard, I always feel guilty..."

Lao Kong hardly smokes at home, but now he spit out a puff of cigarettes very skillfully, "It's all in the past, don't take it to heart, these three brothers are all good, I am very satisfied, and now with these two siblings, Lao Wang's thoughts have faded, and she no longer hates you, it's all for this country, she doesn't hate you as much as you think."

"You have to be careful with this Xiao Zhu. Don't use him like this next time. He is not a rough guy like us. He has good things in his head. If something unexpected happens, you and I can't bear his anger."

"I know. There's nothing we can do about it. Tell me, a high wall with barbed wire. Tsk tsk, it's five or six meters high. Can he still lead people to climb over it? Can someone else do it?"

Leader Hao nodded. "Well, it would be great if someone else could get in by themselves. This guy's skills are incredible. And that girl, it's a pity. By the way, you only said in his file that he has good skills, but you didn't write something so exaggerated. You should keep it a secret."

Lao Kong threw away his cigarette butt and said, "How could I know it was so exaggerated? Our eldest brother competed with him before, but he was no match for me. I asked three coaches to spar with him, but they still couldn't tell how good he was."

Leader Hao chuckled, "He's also an expert. Who knows, maybe I'll fall in love with him. If we take him over, then we won't be violating the leader's wishes. We'll have more experts in a legitimate way."

Old Kong didn't have this idea. "I don't think it's possible. He is too young. According to the leader's usual style, such people will definitely be used after being trained in other positions. Besides, he is the inventor of many projects. I am afraid that the leader will still be reluctant to give him to us."

Leader Hao thought for a moment and said, "That's right. We thought too simply. Let's go and think about how to report this to the leader. This is really a headache."

...

Another person who has the same headache is Li Huaide who is far away in Hong Kong. Today is New Year's Eve. He has had a very bad time in the past few months. He is too busy in Hong Kong to deal with the situation. Today is a holiday, and Li Huaide is trying to get himself together to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner with the workers who stayed behind.

"Leader, here is your letter."

The young worker Xiao Luo ran over happily, "Thank you, give it to me." Li Huaide put down the half-picked vegetables, wiped his hands, and reached out to take it. The envelope was very ordinary, but Li Huaide was very familiar with it and knew that this was the letter he had been waiting for for a long time.

"Old Zhong, you lead everyone to continue preparing. This letter is from above, I have to go back and deal with it."

"Yes, don't be too busy to forget. The food will be ready soon and won't wait for you."

The middle-aged man Lao Zhong raised the spatula in his hand happily.

"You, everyone is busy first, I'll come over later."

Li Huaide smiled and pointed at the man surnamed Zhong, waved the letter in his hand, greeted everyone loudly, and then left the restaurant amid the laughter.

He took a few quick steps and quickly went up to the third floor. For convenience, Li Huaide converted the space behind the office into a suite, which was also his bedroom.

I carefully opened the letter and quickly read it. Disappointment immediately covered my expectant face. I read it word by word from beginning to end without giving up. It took me a long time to sit down with a feeling of loss.

I asked my father-in-law to help me return to Beijing, but he criticized me. I came to Hong Kong with great effort, so how could I go back without any result?

My father-in-law's letter made it very clear that he could no longer interfere with the sales at the steel mill, but the performance gap between Shanghai's small-displacement motorcycles and those at the steel mill was not much, and the appearance was also inspired by those exported to Europe and the United States, so they should also have a strong market competitive advantage.

"Don't give up easily. The more difficult it is, the more you should face it. If you want to return to the capital after a setback, you are a deserter. Once you become a deserter, you will be a deserter for the rest of your life. Your life is truly ruined."

The words of his father-in-law were still ringing in his ears, but Li Huaide was really having a headache. His father-in-law asked him to think of a way to give some ideas to the sales of motorcycles in Shencheng and strive to achieve some results. However, Li Huaide had already suffered two setbacks here. He had no idea how to open up Southeast Asia, let alone find a way to open up the European and American markets for Shencheng's motorcycles. It was too much to ask.

Li Huaide was at a loss. He lit a cigarette and stared at the sunset outside the window in a daze. There were few people in the factory. All the employees of Xiangjiang had gone on holiday, except for a few security guards from the security company at the door. The 18 people who stayed were all employees from the steel rolling mill. Just like in Xiangjiang, they had to rest until the third day of the New Year before going to work. These people could not go back, and were all busy preparing the New Year's dinner in the cafeteria.

The person in charge is Zhong Dawei, the former dispatcher of the third workshop. He is also in charge of the production of the factory here. Li Huaide has been in a daze for the past few months. He doesn't want to do anything, and of course, he can't do anything.

Even his secretary went home to spend the holidays with her family. Li Huaide felt too stressed and lonely and really needed to relax.

He opened the drawer, rummaged through it, found his wallet, and counted it. Including his salary and some extra money from the holiday gifts distributed by the factory before the New Year, the total was only over 6,000 Hong Kong dollars. It was a lot for others, but Li Huaide clearly remembered that he spent more than 10,000 yuan on a nightclub last time.

Li Huaide has been here for seven or eight months, and he has some idea of ​​the market outside. He was cheated last time, but the local tyrants here are very rampant and are not afraid of the police at all. He doesn't want to go to nightclubs anymore. Five thousand yuan should be enough to let him relax for many days in a different place.

"Leader, the New Year's Eve dinner is ready, please hurry up."

Guo Ting, the girl who came to call Li Huaide, is the apprentice of Lao Zheng from the Finance Department. She is also the only two people who have not been replaced last year. Finance is related to foreign exchange, which is of utmost importance. In order to ensure the smooth flow of foreign exchange, the steel rolling mill adopts the approach of regularly sending people to audit the finances.

"Xiao Guo, I'll be right there. I'll be right down."

Li Huaide opened the window and said yes to the people downstairs. After watching the little girl run away happily, Li Huaide put his wallet in his pocket and went downstairs. He would definitely have the New Year's Eve dinner with everyone. After the meal, there would be entertainment and making dumplings. Li Huaide knew how to seize the opportunity to mingle with the crowd.

Not to mention Li Huaide who was having New Year's Eve dinner with the workers, Zhu Xuefeng did not return to No. 95, but went straight back to the compound. In the compound, Lao Xie, Lao Zhang and Daya were already ready. They were just about to start boiling oil when they suddenly saw their boss strolling back. They were overjoyed.

"Boss, why are you back?"

Daya was even more surprised and quickly helped to take the bag.

"Plans can't keep up with changes. I didn't expect to come back today. I'm starving. Mr. Zhang, what are you waiting for? Let's get started. I'm really hungry after all the hard work."

Zhu Xuefeng took the basin of hot water handed to him by Daya, put it on the bench, and washed his face.

"Boss, please have some snacks first. We will start at eight o'clock. We have prepared a lot of things, so it's a bit early to serve."

Daya had already brought a plate of snacks. Zhu Xuefeng had hardly eaten all day, so he just took two pieces of shachima and started eating, while breaking off a little to feed Xiao Hei who came out after hearing the sound. Xiao Hei stretched his legs and bent down lazily, not appreciating the food. He looked at his owner and took small steps back to the bedroom.

"This little thing is picking on me." Zhu Xuefeng scolded with a smile. Xiao Hei is now very psychic and appears and disappears mysteriously. It is difficult to see him without summoning him.

"There are fewer people this year, just the four of us. Daya prepared so much, and we were worried that we wouldn't be able to finish it. The boss's return is just in time."

Master Zhang felt a little sad. There were eight people gathered together during the Spring Festival two years ago. Last year, Zhu Xuefeng's brother and sister were missing, and this year even Erya and Sanya are gone.

"By the way, where are Lin Yilan and Zhou Xiaoyu? Are they both home?"

"No, Miss Lin is on duty at work, and Miss Zhou seems to have left with Master Xie."

Daya was very clear about the whereabouts of several people and reported it immediately.

"It seems that Xie Minghui and Zhou Xiaoyu have really gotten together. That's great."

Zhu Xuefeng was very happy. It was a cause for celebration that both of his good brothers now had hitching posts. He did not expect that the quiet Xie Minghui and the talkative Zhou Xiaoyu could get together. It was quite interesting.

"Boss, you've been on a long trip, go take a shower first, take a hot bath, and get rid of your fatigue. When you're done, this place will be just fine."

"That's fine. It's New Year's Day, so we have to keep it clean."

Zhu Xuefeng readily accepted Daya's suggestion, "Two old men, thank you for your hard work. I will eat a ready-made meal later, haha."

"You are indispensable, go quickly." (End of this chapter)